Midseason special teams

Punter: Marquette King, Oakland Raiders

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He’s received a lot of attention for his big personality, but it’s been his performance that puts Marquette King at the top of our punter grades midway through the year. King recorded the single-highest-graded game we’ve even seen from a punter against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 4, and has averaged 41.5 net yards per punt in 2016.

Second Team: Pat McAfee, Indianapolis Colts

Kicker: Justin Tucker, Baltimore Ravens

We have two kickers who are perfect on the year so far, with Tucker and Adam Vinatieri both not missing a kick yet this season. Going 20-for-20, Tucker has been comfortable from anywhere on the field, going four-for-four on kicks of 50 yards and longer. Really at this point, all that separates him from Vinatieri is that he is a good kick-off kicker too, but that’s what gives him the nod here.

Second Team: Adam Vinatieri, Indianapolis Colts

Clearly, we’re biased, but both McAfee and Vinatieri have a strong case for also making the 1st-team respectively.

For instance, McAfee is tied for 1st in the NFL with a punt average of 50.8 yards per punt and his net average per punt of 42.9 yards per punt ranks 5th overall at his position.

Comparatively, Oakland Raiders punter Marquette King is 6th in the NFL with a punt average of 48.4 yards per punt and 8th overall with a net punt average of 41.8 yards per punt at his position.

However, he does best McAfee in punts pinned inside the opposing team’s 20-yard line, as King ranks 2nd in the NFL with 21 such punts, while McAfee only has 11.

While McAfee only has 11 total punts pinned inside the opposing team’s 20-yard line, Colts special teams gunners have botched a number of masterfully placed punts near the opposing team’s goal line by inexplicably crossing the plane. Therefore, that number could very well be a bit higher.

It’s also worth arguing that if Vinatieri is going to get docked for not kicking off, that McAfee should be rewarded for handling the Colts kickoffs as well.

McAfee has the 3rd most NFL total touchbacks this season with 36 touchbacks, and he’s the only kickoff specialist with a 100% conversion rate on onside kicks. Granted, McAfee is only 1 for 1–a limited sample size, but this spinning onside kick against the Titans sure still was a doozy:

The Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowl placekicker has made all 20 of 20 field goals this season including being 4 of 4 from 50+ yards, as well as 10 of 10 PAT’s.

However, Vinatieri has successfully kicked 19 of 19 field goals with 5 of 5 kicks from 50+ yards, as well as a perfect 24 of 24 in PATS.

If all things are about equal, the 1st-Team All-Pro honor should be given to a player that is defying age at 43 years old and history–having now made an NFL record-breaking 44 consecutive field goals and counting.

Obviously, it’s a nice tip of the helmet for both McAfee and Vinatieri to be named to PFF’s 2016 Midseason All-Pro Team, but here’s to thinking that they could very well have been elevated to the 1st team respectively.